It is frequently necessary that the status of a room be monitored for one reason or another, and to then provide a visual indication that the status check has been completed. A typical example is in the event of an emergency in a hospital, home for the aged or chronic care facility requiring the evacuation of the premises. Obviously, in such facilities, not all of the occupants will be ambulatory and will therefore be incapable of evacuating themselves. Evacuation assistance for such patients is necessary and it is equally necessary that all patient rooms be double-checked to ensure that their occupants have in fact been safely removed. The task of double-checking is assigned to predetermined individuals who do their rounds as quickly but as thoroughly as possible. As each room is checked, its door is then closed and marked to confirm to others that the room has been inspected and confirmed vacant. The marking of the door serves not only to confirm room status but to prevent others from duplicating the room check unnecessarily.
Presently, one can indicate that a search has been conducted beyond a closed door by writing directly on the door, placing a temporary sign on the door, or engaging a sign permanently affixed to the door. These systems all have certain disadvantages. Writing on the door is easiest. However, if one uses a non-permanent writing instrument which is easily removed, such as chalk, the markings can be erased, obscured or washed away unintentionally. If one uses a permanent writing instrument, such as an indelible ink marker, one must go through the effort and expense of washing or even painting the door once the emergency is over. There are also the problems of having sufficient writing instruments on hand at all times and of making sure the instruments write on all surfaces of all doors that one would encounter in a large building. Shiny, wet or damaged surfaces may be particularly difficult to write upon.
Signs that temporarily attach to a doorway once an inspection is complete pose their own particular problems. One must initially locate and carry the signs from door to door and there is always the possibility of having insufficient signs to mark all necessary rooms and areas. The means of attaching these signs to the doors may prove inadequate, particularly in emergency situations. There are problems involving the use of tape or the use of signs having an adhesive backing for attachment purposes. Tape or other adhesives do not always adhere well to all surfaces, especially shiny, wet or cold surfaces or surfaces made dirty or even damaged as a result of the emergency. In such a case, signs may not adhere at all or may fall off prematurely once the area beyond them has been inspected. While these problems may in some instances be overcome by using stronger adhesives, residue of such adhesives may remain on the surface of the door once the sign has been removed following the emergency, or removal of the sign may cause damage to the door's surface.
Indicators permanently attached to a door overcome the abovementioned problems. However, not all permanent indicator signs are convenient to use and must in any event be manually reset after the emergency is over and the patients are returned to their rooms. This has serious implications while the emergency remains in progress. If, following the inspection and setting the sign accordingly, someone reenters the room, closing the door behind them, the room will nevertheless appear confirmed-as-vacant to the outside observer. Injury or tragedy may ensue if the person in the room subsequently fails to leave due to disorientation, confusion, disablement or injury.
The present indicator sign has the advantage of automatically resetting itself when the door is next opened after the inspection. If the inspection was associated with an evacuation, the present invention has the added advantage of being able to indicate whether someone has reentered the room, subsequent to an inspection, thereby indicating that another inspection is needed.